### Emergency Communications Center Targeted The **Patriot Regional Emergency Communications Center**, which serves as a regional hub for towns including Pepperell, Ashby, Dunstable, and Groton in Massachusetts, suffered a cyberattack that began on Tuesday. The intrusion has disrupted non-emergency and business phone lines, although 9-1-1 services remain operational. ### Incident Response and Investigation **Andrew MacLean**, Pepperell Town Administrator, stated that the town has engaged its insurance provider and external cybersecurity agencies to investigate and mitigate the attack. Federal law enforcement has also been notified. Cybersecurity experts are currently assessing the extent of the breach and determining if any information was accessed or stolen. ### Impact on Emergency Services Despite the cyberattack, the Pepperell Police and Fire departments continue to respond to emergency calls. The town assures that other local departments can still contact the Patriot Regional Emergency Communications Center through established mutual aid channels. ### Connection to CodeRED The Patriot Regional Emergency Communications Center is linked to **CodeRED**, an emergency notification service. Notably, CodeRED's parent company, **Crisis24**, was itself targeted by a ransomware attack in November, which took the system offline in numerous municipalities and resulted in the theft of information on local officials. This earlier incident prompted warnings for officials to change their CodeRED passwords. ### Previous Attacks on Emergency Services This incident follows a pattern of ransomware attacks targeting critical emergency services across the U.S., including a prominent ambulance service in Milwaukee and other municipal emergency services. These attacks highlight the increasing vulnerability of essential public services to cyber threats.  ### About the Author  Jonathan Greig is a Breaking News Reporter at Recorded Future News with extensive experience covering cybersecurity and global news.